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Eurogamer's report this morning that Nintendo is working on an "SNES Mini" plug-and-play console in the style of the NES Classic Edition (according to "sources close to the company") isn't too surprising. The original NES Mini was an unexpectedly large success that should logically inspire Nintendo to mine more of its classic hardware for more easy profits.

Further Reading

On the other hand, Nintendo recently discontinued the NES Classic Edition despite evidence of continuing huge demand that hasn't been satisfied by the paltry supply Nintendo rolled out to stores. Eurogamer goes so far as to say the SNES Mini's impending release is part of the reason the NES Classic Edition was discontinued, suggesting that the company thinks only one retro console can exist on the market at a time, for some reason.

In all likelihood, the SNES Mini will likely be nearly identical to the miniature NES that came before it. If we had Nintendo's ear, though, here's what we'd recommend to help it build the retro console of our dreams:

A downloadable game store

Sure, we get the appeal of a system that "just works" out of the box, without the need to hook anything up to your Wi-Fi or bust out a credit card for an online account. That said, allowing the SNES Mini library to expand via purchased downloads (a la the Virtual Console on other Nintendo consoles) seems like a no-brainer way to provide a continued revenue stream and longer-term interest in the hardware.

Support for multiple systems

Further Reading

The power of nostalgia means styling distinct "mini" boxes after distinct classic Nintendo consoles is a powerful marketing move. But there's no reason that the overpowered innards on the NES Mini couldn't also emulate games from the Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, or even Game Boy and Game Boy Advance in a single box (à la a RetroPie-equipped Raspberry Pi box). Market it as the Ultimate Nintendo History Arcade or something, and put all your classic systems in one place.

Classic video outputs

Further Reading

We love that the NES Classic Edition has a built-in filter to simulate the fuzzy glow of an old CRT television. Still, nothing can completely replicate the way a game looks on a pre-HD TV. We don't imagine there's a huge market of CRT users out there who would be demanding RCA, S-Video, or even RGB outputs for a modern SNES remake, but this is our dream console, so we'll ask for what we want.

(Support for original SNES cartridges would be nice, too, but would likely require making the box a lot bigger than it otherwise needs to be).

Multitap support

If NBA Jam, Super Bomberman, and/or Secret of Mana appear on the SNES Mini, we sincerely hope there's a way for four people to play them simultaneously.

A continuing supply

We understand that the NES Classic Edition's success took Nintendo by surprise, and the company didn't really have plans for continued production of what was supposed to be a holiday season novelty. That excuse won't work this time around. Nintendo really should commit to continuing to produce the SNES Mini as long as market demand makes it a reasonable and profitable proposition. It's a bit ridiculous that we even have to say this, but here we are.

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Kyle Orland
Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area. Emailkyle.orland@arstechnica.com//Twitter@KyleOrl

We understand that the NES Classic Edition's success took Nintendo by surprise, and the company didn't really have plans for continued production of what was supposed to be a holiday season novelty. That excuse won't work this time around.

We understand that the NES Classic Edition's success took Nintendo by surprise, and the company didn't really have plans for continued production of what was supposed to be a holiday season novelty. That excuse won't work this time around.

I'm not sure that it worked last time round.

Fair enough. How about "it will make even less sense this time around"

I can't get my head around the grammar of 'an SNES'. Isn't it pronounced snez, so should be 'a'?

Some people pronounce it "snez", some people (like me) just say the letters.

Same. For me, it's either "an S-N-E-S" or "a Super NES" (pronounced "ness"), but I don't think I've never said "snez" or "sness" for SNES.

To be honest, though, I'm not in this market anymore. After a few attempts at picking up the Mini NES, I just said the hell with it and built a Pi with RetroPie. Now I have all my NES and SNES games on that and I don't have to worry about it.

The other benefit is that I can do many other things with the Pi if I ever decide not to use it as a NES/SNES emulator anymore, rather than just putting it in a bin to gather dust alongside my NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, and Wii.

I can't get my head around the grammar of 'an SNES'. Isn't it pronounced snez, so should be 'a'?

I've never heard 'snez'. I've either heard pronouncing each letter (es-en-ee-es), or as S-Nes (es-ness). Either one makes more sense with 'an' than 'a'.

Pronouncing every letter is the common pronunciation 'round here too.

As for me, the only thing I really think they need is an online store. Nintendo is just giving up a huge payday by not offering a huge library of downloadable games for a few dollars each. I would honestly say that most people who hacked their NES Classic Edition did so out of frustration about the lack of games and not just the want to pirate them. Many would have paid if it were an option.

The online library should also be shared with the Switch virtual console (even if you can only use one of the machines at a time). That would get Nintendo a lot of publicity for the Switch and a bit of very cheap goodwill, which they need more than anything right now.

Oh man, if there's an SNES mini in the works, or even a revised NES mini, that will play NES and GameBoy games, then I'll be a happy camper. I really want to revisit games I used to play as a kid, like Wizards and Warriors and Startropics; and I also want to revisit Link's Awakening, a game my mom used to play on her first-gen GameBoy, but I don't want to have to track down a GameCube with a GameBoy Player, and then either mod the console with HDMI-out or spend a boatload of money on a component cable.

I can't get my head around the grammar of 'an SNES'. Isn't it pronounced snez, so should be 'a'?

Some people pronounce it "snez", some people (like me) just say the letters.

Same. For me, it's either "an S-N-E-S" or "a Super NES" (pronounced "ness"), but I don't think I've never said "snez" or "sness" for SNES.

To be honest, though, I'm not in this market anymore. After a few attempts at picking up the Mini NES, I just said the hell with it and built a Pi with RetroPie. Now I have all my NES and SNES games on that and I don't have to worry about it.

The other benefit is that I can do many other things with the Pi if I ever decide not to use it as a NES/SNES emulator anymore, rather than just putting it in a bin to gather dust alongside my NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, and Wii.

Yeah, the Pi is just a much more attractive option at this point and that's really a shame. I think it's entirely possible for Nintendo to make something that's more appealing to a substantial number of people - think less "NES Mini" and more "Analogue Nt Mini" - but they don't seem interested, so they're left limiting their audience for these products to people who are buying it largely for the brand name and nostalgia attached.

I get the appeal of having an NES, SNES, and N64 (and maybe more) all emulated on one official Nintendo console. But given how the controllers evolved with each system, how would that work out? You'd have three different sets of controllers lying around.

You know that if they only released, say, the N64 controller (the most advanced one from these three systems) and made it so it worked with the NES and SNES, people would complain that it isn't authentic. But, if it required three different controllers, people would complain about all those damn controllers, sort of like what happened with all the guitars and drums from Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

A nitpick, sure, and it's your wish list. But beware what you wish for.

How about... wireless controllers? My couch is about 10 feet away from the TV, so a good run for that length would be 15 feet plus. I can't work with 2.5' cables.

Kind of hard to justify the expense on a system that sells for $60. I'm sure there are people willing to pay more for one with wireless controllers, but the volumes are probably low enough that it would have to be a low volume, high price, aftermarket solution.

My solution is long HDMI cord that I use when I want to hook something like my laptop up to the TV. That way I can reset the NES Classic if I want to exit to the main screen without having to get up.

I get the appeal of having an NES, SNES, and N64 (and maybe more) all emulated on one official Nintendo console. But given how the controllers evolved with each system, how would that work out? You'd have three different sets of controllers lying around.

You know that if they only released, say, the N64 controller (the most advanced one from these three systems) and made it so it worked with the NES and SNES, people would complain that it isn't authentic. But, if it required three different controllers, people would complain about all those damn controllers, sort of like what happened with all the guitars and drums from Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

A nitpick, sure, and it's your wish list. But beware what you wish for.

They could just go with the Pro Controller as a standard (since it works well for all three consoles) and then sell controllers for each console separately. It'd mean that people who don't want all those controllers don't need to buy them, and it would provide Nintendo a secondary revenue stream from the purists willing to buy the alternatives.

I get the appeal of having an NES, SNES, and N64 (and maybe more) all emulated on one official Nintendo console. But given how the controllers evolved with each system, how would that work out? You'd have three different sets of controllers lying around.

You know that if they only released, say, the N64 controller (the most advanced one from these three systems) and made it so it worked with the NES and SNES, people would complain that it isn't authentic. But, if it required three different controllers, people would complain about all those damn controllers, sort of like what happened with all the guitars and drums from Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

A nitpick, sure, and it's your wish list. But beware what you wish for.

Well the Wii had the Classic Controller and that worked pretty well for NES,SNES and N64. Six-button genesis games were a little rougher however. So long as they allow using Y & B for A&B a SNES controller can handle GB, GBA, NES duty quite well.

The only thing that "crippled" the NES Classic Edition was the relatively small production run. Beyond that (and the odd decision to ship with an extremely short controller cord), that console was almost universally praised.

I get the appeal of having an NES, SNES, and N64 (and maybe more) all emulated on one official Nintendo console. But given how the controllers evolved with each system, how would that work out? You'd have three different sets of controllers lying around.

You know that if they only released, say, the N64 controller (the most advanced one from these three systems) and made it so it worked with the NES and SNES, people would complain that it isn't authentic. But, if it required three different controllers, people would complain about all those damn controllers, sort of like what happened with all the guitars and drums from Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

A nitpick, sure, and it's your wish list. But beware what you wish for.

Well the Wii had the Classic Controller and that worked pretty well for NES,SNES and N64. Six-button genesis games were a little rougher however. So long as they allow using Y & B for A&B a SNES controller can handle GB, GBA, NES duty quite well.

Think SM64 or Golden Eye. Those basically require the joystick and the Z trigger for precise movement and targeting. (Yes, I've only listed two games, but they are two most people know quite well. Most of the N64 games were designed with the analog stick in mind.)